LRC psych unit mediation rejected

Efforts to end a row that has led to a four-month delay in opening a €15m psychiatric facility received a major setback after nurses last night unanimously rejected proposals by the Labour Relations Commission.

All 20 psychiatric nurses represented by Siptu at Cork University Hospital rejected LRC proposals aimed at ending the dispute, which included the offer of 10 extra nurses and five additional healthcare assistants to staff the hospital’s new acute unit.

One of the nurses, Des McSweeney — who was temporarily put off work with pay during the dispute after he criticised the operational plans for the unit in the media — said he believed key clinical issues had still not been addressed by HSE management.

“The clinical issues at the heart of this dispute have to be dealt with and they have not been to date,” said Mr McSweeney.

These included the use of healthcare assistants instead of qualified psychiatric nurses and failure to open a six-bed high observation facility within the 50-bed unit.

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HSE mental health service management said last night that they were “very disappointed that the proposals agreed and accepted by all unions with the Labour Relations Commission have been rejected by one of the unions involved”.

The HSE said the proposals would have given 16 additional staff for the new unit, over and above the staffing levels in ‘GF’, the outdated psychiatric ward that remains operational within CUH while efforts continue to open the new facility. GF has 46 beds, four less than its replacement.

Last night’s ballot follows what the HSE described as “exhaustive discussions” including four LRC hearings since January 16. The LRC has said the proposals are the “absolute limit of what can be achieved taking into account all of the factors in this dispute”.

The HSE said it now awaited the result of the ballot of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, which is due to start balloting its 20-plus members today.

The new unit has been sanctioned by the Mental Health Commission and is earmarked for both general adult psychiatry and the psychiatry of old age.

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